Janice Anderson says that to be a great school nurse, “you have to love people, especially children.”
Anderson, who has worked at Frank Porter Graham Elementary since 2003, was the School Nurse Association of North Carolina’s 2011 School Nurse of the Year.
The challenge in working with children, Anderson says, is that they cannot always articulate what they are experiencing. Anderson approaches caring for children holistically. She says an important part of school nursing is teaching the next generation body awareness, body signals and self-care.
What Anderson loves about FPG is that “every day is wonderfully unique.” Anderson says that the school offers both socioeconomic and cultural diversity with a student population of Burmese refugees, Hispanic, African-American and white students. Having such a diverse student body creates the challenge of matching its health needs with community resources, Anderson says.
Anderson has lived in Chapel Hill since 1993. Before working at FPG, Anderson practiced school nursing at the Durham County Health Department, where she was assigned a different school each day and oversaw administering medication and handling any medical problems.
A certified Asthma Educator, Anderson treats 80 students with asthma and has established programs that educate staff and students. Anderson linked with the UNC pediatric and pulmonary division to create an “asthma night” initiative that offered families informational presentations and a chance to talk one-on-one with physicians.
